Ok ... I've checked most drugs stores and grocery stores on the westside of LA, here's a few things I've found:

Question: What stores carry Entertainment Weekly for sale?

Answer:

Always Carries: Vons, Pavillions, Rite Aid

Mostly Caries: CVS

Sometimes Caries: Famima

Does not Carry: 7/11, Walgreens, Ralphs, Smart & Final, AM/PM, Mexican Grocers (4x), random liquor stores (7x)

Not enough information known: Barnes & Noble, Albertsons, Gelsons, Trader Joe's, Target, Fast & Easy, and Whole Foods.

--------------- Geographic Area Covered ---------------

I've covered everything in Downtown LA, Culver City, and most of Hollywood, Mar Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice, and Westchester. I missed a few places that close early; will probably try again around 6am. I've gone through approx 300 magazines, no luck.

I'm assuming effectively random distribution of the ad; that is to say that EW, inc. didn't carefully cherry-pick the recipients of the 1000 special ad issues, but instead distributed them indifferently.

Some tips:

* Some places will only have their EW magazines at the checkout while others will have them on a separate rack which is either on a shelf around where greeting cards end and vitamins start (in drug stores), where the film development sections used to be (perhaps still are), off in a desolate corner, or some place completely unexpected. I have yet to find a store that had EW BOTH on the rack in an aisle AND at the checkout.

* Employees of the store generally _have_no_idea_ if they carry EW or not; just ask them where the mags are.

* Customers are sloppy with magazines. A large number of times I found say, a Vogue, placed in front of the EW stash; so if you are glancing over the rack and can't find the stack of EW, look BEHIND the front magazines and you may find it.

* Grocery stores generally open at 6 am. Drug stores, if they close at all, generally open later; between 7 and 9.

* Remember, EW is an entertainment magazine so it will be placed with celeb gossip and other hollywood like magazines. Generally there's a mens' section (with things like sports, working out, monster trucks) a kids section, a feigned intellectual section, a glamour section, and an entertainment section; oftentimes mixed with the tween (think 17, tigerbeat, etc) section.

* I haven't tried a book seller (e.g., Barnes & Noble) or a newstand yet, but I don't think they would carry a significantly larger quantity of the issue or be statistically more likely to have the special ad on an issue by issue basis so therefore, I don't necessary view them as more lucrative potentials.

* This is the cover you are looking for; it's pretty distinct: http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:1227,00.html ...

What I have been doing is taking the whole stack and then bending them in a wavy motion to quickly see if it's all paper, or you know, something else. Then I will eye-ball the thickness; this isn't a 1000 page wedding magazine, it's only about the thickness of a Cardbus card. I would think that an issue with the right advertisement would be bulbous and obvious; it clearly has different paper stock. Interestingly enough, EW doesn't seem to have the 25 odd mail-in subscription things fall out when you pick it up, nor does it seem to have a different paper stock ad that makes you flip to it. This image from ebay has a pretty good representation of the standard issue with thickness: http://i.ebayimg.com/t/ENTERTAINMENT-WEEKLY-October-5-2012-T...

Anyway, lastly, if you are lucky and get one, please post pictures, I want to see it! This sounds like pretty neat technology.